In delivery centers of post service providers or home delivery service providers, a complicated conveying line is constructed by roller conveyers or belt conveyers.
Specifically, conveyer lines are disposed in multiple rows in delivery centers, and branch sections or convergence sections are formed on the conveyer lines, so that the conveyers are disposed like a net. Conveyed objects are sorted by destination.
An apparatus called a transfer apparatus is mounted on a branch section or a convergence section on a conveying line. A transfer apparatus is the one as disclosed in the patent document 1.
The outline of a conveying line and a transfer apparatus is generally as illustrated in FIG. 10. Specifically, the transfer apparatus 100 used in a delivery center includes a main conveying passage 101 and an auxiliary conveying passage 102. Here a “main conveying passage” and an “auxiliary conveying passage” are only described distinctively for facilitating description. Either one may be the “main conveying passage”, and either one may be the “auxiliary conveying passage”.
For example, in the transfer apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 10, a conveying passage including a plurality of thin belts 105 is defined as the main conveying passage 101, while a conveying passage including a plurality of rollers 103 is defined as the auxiliary conveying passage 102.
The main conveying passage 101 and the auxiliary conveying passage 102 are located on a same planar region.
The plurality of rollers 103 constituting the auxiliary conveying passage 102 are disposed parallel to one another with a constant space as illustrated in FIG. 10.
The plurality of rollers 103 constituting the auxiliary conveying passage 102 include a motor-incorporating roller and follower rollers, and an auxiliary conveying motor 111 is incorporated in the motor-incorporating roller.
Each of the plurality of thin belts 105 constituting the main conveying passage 101 is disposed between the rollers 103 of the auxiliary conveying passage 102. A main conveying motor 110 runs the plurality of thin belts 105 constituting the main conveying passage 101.
The plurality of thin belts 105 constituting the main conveying passage 101 and the plurality of rollers 103 constituting the auxiliary conveying passage 102 are attached to an individual frame.
The transfer apparatus 100 also includes a lifting and lowering device 112 for lifting and lowering the plurality of thin belts 105 constituting the main conveying passage 101 and the plurality of rollers 103 constituting the auxiliary conveying passage 102. The lifting and lowering device 112 is driven by a lifting and lowering motor 115.
The lifting and lowering device 112 lifts or lowers the main conveying passage 101 and the auxiliary conveying passage 102 to set a conveying surface of either of the conveying passages 101 and 102 to be on top.
A conveying surface position detection sensor 113 that detects which conveying surface is on top is provided.
For example, in a layout in which the main conveying passage 101 of the transfer apparatus 100 is disposed continuous with the main conveying line 120 of the conveyer line, and branching lines 121a and 121b are placed at the side of the transfer apparatus 100 as illustrated in FIG. 10, the transfer apparatus 100 activates the lifting and lowering device 112, and waits with the main conveying passage 101 being on top. When a conveyed object 125 is conveyed from an upstream conveyer 120a of the main conveying line 120, the main conveying motor 110 that drives the main conveying passage 101 is driven to run the plurality of thin belts 105, whereby the conveyed object 125 is received by the transfer apparatus 100 and placed on the main conveying passage 101.
When the conveyed object 125 is conveyed from the upstream side to the downstream side of the main conveying line 120, the lifting and lowering device 112 is unchanged to keep the state in which the main conveying passage 101 is on top, and the main conveying motor 110 keeps rotating to continue running of the thin belts 105. Consequently, the conveyed object 125 is conveyed from the upstream conveyer 120a to a downstream conveyer 120b of the main conveying line 120 through the transfer apparatus 100.
On the other hand, when a conveyed object 125 is to be discharged onto the branching line 121a, the lifting and lowering device 112 is activated with the state in which the transfer apparatus 100 receives the conveyed object 125. With this, the transfer apparatus 100 is changed such that the conveying surface of the auxiliary conveying passage 102 is located above the main conveying passage 101.
Thus, the conveyed object 125 is placed on the auxiliary conveying passage 102. That is, the conveyed object 125 is transferred onto the auxiliary conveying passage 102 from the main conveying passage 101.
Then, the auxiliary conveying motor 111 in the motor-incorporating roller is activated to rotate the plurality of rollers 103, whereby the conveyed object 125 is sent to the branching line 121a. 
Meanwhile, as far as the present inventor knows, a dedicated control device for the transfer apparatus 100 is not commercially available, and each of three motors 110, 111, and 115 of the transfer apparatus 100 is controlled by an independent motor control device.
Specifically, the transfer apparatus 100 according to a prior art requires a main conveying motor control device 130 that controls the main conveying motor 110, an auxiliary conveying motor control device 131 that controls the auxiliary conveying motor 111, and a lifting and lowering motor control device 132 that controls the lifting and lowering motor 115 as illustrated in FIG. 10.
Notably, in the present specification, a “motor control device” or a “control device for motor” is a device that supplies drive power to a motor to control the motor.
As described above, the transfer apparatus 100 includes the main conveying passage 101, the auxiliary conveying passage 102, and the lifting and lowering device 112.
The main conveying passage 101 is driven by the main conveying motor 110, the auxiliary conveying passage 102 is driven by the auxiliary conveying motor 111, and the lifting and lowering device 112 is driven by the lifting and lowering motor 115.
In the prior art, the main conveying motor control device 130 that drives and controls the main conveying motor 110, the auxiliary conveying motor control device 131 that drives and controls the auxiliary conveying motor 111, and the lifting and lowering motor control device 132 that drives and controls the lifting and lowering motor 115 are essential.
If, for example, each of the motors 110, 111, and 115 employed in the transfer apparatus 100 is a brushless motor, and has a stator including a plurality of coils, current is successively flown through each coil to form a rotating magnetic field by the stators of the motors 110, 111, and 115. That is, each of the motor control devices 130, 131, and 132 has a motor drive circuit 135.
Each of the motor control devices 130, 131, and 132 also includes a circuit for controlling the motor drive circuit 135 to allow the motor to rotate at a desired rotation speed, and a CPU 136.
It is also provided with terminals for inputting a signal to allow the activation timing or stop timing of the motor to be controlled to match the timings of other devices or transmitting a signal necessary for adjacent devices. Specifically, each of the motor control devices 130, 131, and 132 is provided with a signal input terminal 137 and a signal output terminal 138.
Each motor control device is also provided with a power feed terminal 139 for inputting power for activating the motor drive circuit 135 and the CPU 136.